I spent a moment reliving memories that I won’t share with you. Preparing and drinking the klava brought me back, at least to the point where I was able to speak. “Of course I’ll do what I can, but saving the world just isn’t my style, Sethra. I specialize in smaller things: breaking legs, collecting debts, knocking off the occasional squealer. You know, small stuff.”
Neither she nor Teldra replied. At length I said, “Okay. What do you need me to do?”
“There is a procedure,” she said, “that I believe might work. You must be the one to do it, however.”
“Uh ... if I ask why me, will I get an answer lasting less than an hour?”
“Because you have the chain you call Spellbreaker.”
“I see. Well, actually, I don’t.”
“Use Spellbreaker to make contact with Blackwand, then follow the link through one of Morrolan’s windows.”
“That’s it?” I said.
“That’s it. Your artifact should be able to connect to the Great Weapon, even across necromantic boundaries, because Blackwand should always be able to sense, at some level, what is happening in those windows. Or so I think. It will either work, or it won’t.”
“Yeah, I imagine those are the options. The question is, what then? I mean, if it works, what do I do?”
“Improvise.”
“Improvise?”
“How can I say what to do, when I don’t know where you are going, or what you will find there?”
“You know I don’t care much for improvising.”
“I know. But you are good at it.”
“Thank you so much.”
“And you don’t rely on sorcery; you have other abilities.”
“Great. Once I open up the way, if it works, and I get there, if I do, will I have any help?”
“What about me, Boss?”
“Shut up, Loiosh.”
“No,” said Sethra. “There will be none to give you.”
“I see. I just go in, and improvise. While I’m improvising. what will you be doing?”
“Waiting.”
“Can you, I don’t know, keep an eye on me? Maybe yank me back if I get in over my head?”
“I don’t know how. If I can’t reach them where they are, I don’t know how I’d be able to watch you there.”
“Uh ... magic?”
“If sorcery worked there, I don’t think we’d be having this problem, and I can’t think what other magic we might use. Unlike you, I’m not a witch.”
“If you’d asked, I could have taught you. But you’re saying that witchcraft will still function?”
“It should; that’s one reason I wanted you for this.”
“Witchcraft is not usually useful—”
“Have you forgotten the Paths of the Dead, Vlad?”
“I’ve tried to.” I had visited the place where the dead hang around like old Dragonlords with no battles to fight except the ones they’ve already lost, and, even though I was living at the time, I just didn’t enjoy the experience enough to dwell on the memory.
She didn’t answer. I said, “How about the Necromancer?”
She cocked her head to the side. “That is a thought, Vlad. And not a bad one at that.”
“See what a good vacation will do for the creative powers?”
“I’ll speak to her.”
I ran it through my mind. “Sethra, do you understand what you’re asking me to do?”
“Yes.”
Yes, of course she did. She was, to begin with, a Dragon; moreover she had led armies. She had no problem ordering people off to get killed—it was a way of life for her.
“Before I go jumping into this, tell me one thing: Do you have any reason to believe I might get out of this alive?”
“Oh, yes, certainly,” she said. “I have a high regard for your skills.”
“Ah. My skills. Well, that’s reassuring.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself, Vlad.”
Anything else I said would sound self-pitying, so I shut up; but Teldra said, “I will go along.”
Sethra and I looked at her. She had said it as if she were announcing the wine she intended to serve with dinner.
“Teldra,” said Sethra at last. “I am not certain you are qualified for this mission.”
“Perhaps I am not,” she said. “But I am not quite as helpless as you, perhaps, believe I am.”
“Nevertheless,” said Sethra. “This is the kind of activity that Vlad is trained for”—this, by the way, was news to me—“and you are not.”
“Are you certain of that, Lady?” said Teldra. “I speak not of Vlad’s training, but perhaps with what lies before us, my talents would not be useless.”
“I see,” said Sechra slowly, considering her words. Sethra had obviously picked up some meaning that had escaped me entirely “Yes, you may be right after all.”
I said, “Sethra, would you mind explaining this to me? I think I’m missing something.”
“Yes, I believe you are.” said Sethra.
“It is difficult to explain,” said Teldra. “But, if you wish—”
“I’m changing my mind about explanations,” I said. “Just tell me if I need to know.”
“You don’t need to know,” said Sethra.
Teldra said, “And then?”
“Yes, you ought to go along.”
“Then let us begin at once,” she said.
“No,” I said.
“Is there a reason to wait, Vlad, or is it that you need time to gather your nerve.”
“No, my nerve is far too scattered for mere time to gather it. But if I’m going to go off and get killed I’m going to finish my Verra-be-damned klava first. Now please give me some peace to enjoy it.”
Sethra smiled. “Do you know, Vlad, whatever happens to you, you do certainly remain yourself.”
“That’s good. I haven’t had as much practice being me as you have being you. But does that mean I get to finish my klava?”
“By all means,” said Sethra. “While you do so, I’ll attempt to reach the Necromancer.”
Sethra’s face went blank and I stopped watching her, because it is rude to watch the face of someone having a psychic conversation with another, and it was hard for me to be rude while Lady Teldra was sitting there. I drank klava. It really was very good.
“The Necromancer,” said Sethra presently, “will be there, and will attempt to monitor the proceedings, but she cannot guarantee her success.”
I grunted and drank the rest of my klava. I enjoyed it. I remain grateful that they permitted it. Sethra still seemed to be amused. I could not, of course, guess what Teldra was thinking. “Okay,” I said at last. “I’m done. Let’s go get killed. Is everybody ready?”
Sethra shrugged. “For now, I have nothing to do.”
“The teleport,” I said. “I’m a little out of practice.”
“Very well, I think I can manage that.” I hid the two specimens of Phoenix Stone, one gold and one black, in their box, and once more I felt naked, but I was too frightened by the idea of the Jenoine to let a little thing like the Jhereg worry me unduly. Isn’t it funny how the tiniest change in circumstances can alter all of your priorities?
“Ready, Loiosh?”
“Oh, sure, Boss. Couldn’t be better.”
“Ready,” I told Sethra. Teldra stood next to me, and Sethra, without, so far as I could tell, so much as furrowing her brow, caused the sitting to room to vanish, and the courtyard of Castle Black to appear around me.
I felt like saying hello to it; I had a lot of memories tied up in that place, and not all of them were even bad. It was big, and it was a castle, and it was made all of black marble shot through with veins of silver, and it floated a mile or so in the air, and no one except me thought there was anything strange about that.